A Study on the Fully Coupled Atmosphere-Land-Hydrology Process and Streamflow Simulations over the Source Region of the Yellow River

Abstract

Abstract. The Source Region of the Yellow River (SRYR) is known as the "Water Tower of the Yellow River", which is the most important water conservation area in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The streamflow of the SRYR makes an important contribution to the water resources in the Yellow River basin. Based on the Weather Research and Forecasting Model Hydrological modeling system (WRF-Hydro) model, by using meteorological, hydrological observations and reanalysis data, the key variables of the coupled atmosphere-land-hydrological processes over the SRYR during the 2013 rainy season (May–August) are analyzed, and the simulation results of the fully coupled WRF-Hydro with those of the standalone WRF are compared, whose aim is to assess the impact of hydrological coupling on the regional atmospheric model settings. The results show that the WRF-Hydro model has ability to depict the characteristics of streamflow over the SRYR with a Nash Efficiency Coefficient (NSE) of 0.44 during the calibration period from June 1st, 2012 to September 30th, 2012 and a NSE of 0.61 during the validation period from May 1st, 2013 to August 31st, 2013. Compared with the standalone WRF model, the fully coupled model tends to show better performance with respect to temperature, downward longwave radiation, downward shortwave radiation, latent heat, sensible heat and soil temperature and moisture. Although the wet bias of the coupled simulated precipitation slightly increases (2.51 mm vs. 2.50 mm) due to the consideration of lateral flow of soil water, the simulation results of the land-atmosphere water-heat exchange fluxes and soil heat fluxes are comparably improved. Compared with the observations, the mean Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of latent and sensible heat is reduced to 32.27 W∙m-2 and 24.91 W∙m-2, and of surface soil temperature and moisture is reduced to 4.22 K and 0.06 m3/m3. Besides, the fully coupled model is able to capture the variation characteristics of streamflow with a NSE of 0.33, which indicates that the fully coupled WRF-Hydro model has great potential for characterizing coupled atmosphere-land-hydrological processes and streamflow simulation in the cold climatical and complex topographic regions.

Influences of Underwater Shield Tunnelling on River Embankment Seepage Stability Considering Various Overburden Thickness

“…To examine the change in the infiltration hydraulic gradient of the river embankment under various overburden thickness excavation in the underwater shield tunnel at the design flood level condition (100-year event), simulation results from the numerical calculation model of steady seepage are utilized (Figure 5). The top of the river embankment, there remaining violent water flow, is that the infiltration damage occurs at a high level of the water, according to calculation findings, and it is safer to regulate the infiltration hydraulic gradient within 0.30 in accordance with the relevant specification [45]. The findings indicate that when excavating at 3.76 m, the maximum hydraulic gradient reaches 0.30 and there is a likelihood of infiltration damage.…”